Lithium dodecyl sulfate (LDS, CAS 2044-56-6) is the lithium salt of the same dodecyl sulfate anion found in SDS. Swapping sodium for lithium changes one key property: solubility in the cold.
SDS can crystallize out of buffers at low temperatures, which ruins cold-room electrophoresis runs. LDS stays soluble under the same conditions, so it is the standard substitute for:
- Low-temperature SDS-PAGE and related protein separation work
- Cold-room protein extraction and purification
- Specialty research formulations where the lithium counterion’s solubility profile is needed
LDS costs significantly more than SDS, so labs typically reserve it for cold applications and use SDS 99% at room temperature. See specifications on our Lithium Dodecyl Sulfate product page or the LDS CAS 2044-56-6 overview.